Watch: New Deaf perspectives shared for BBC Radio 3 series ‘The Essay’

BBC Radio 3’s audio series The Essay has produced a second collection of Deaf perspectives which will be broadcast this week, under the title Sign Language Is My Language.

Produced by the Deaf-led media company Flashing Lights, the latest films come after the first five Deaf essays for the radio station were released last year, in a collection called The Essay: My Deaf World.

This year’s essays include contributions from linguist Dr Robert Adam, actress and consultant Deepa Shastri, Jewish actress Tina Kelberman and architectural designer Chris Laing.

In a press release, Flashing Lights said the essays formed part of a “ground-breaking series” which “explores the history, layers and nuances of British Sign Language, framed through personal lenses to tie in with the passing of the BSL Act in Parliament”.

The legislation became law earlier this year and gives legal recognition to the language in England, Scotland and Wales.

Robert’s two essays explore the history of BSL and the “astonishing bastardisations of sign language” on social media platforms, while Deepa’s contribution discusses the “new era” of Deaf representation.

Tina’s essay touches upon her experience of growing up in a large Deaf Jewish family, and Chris’ essay concludes the week’s theme with a piece about SignStrokes, a project on which he collaborated to produce new, standardised signs for architecture.

One essay will be broadcast every weekday on BBC Radio 3 from Monday 12 September to Friday 16 September, with all five essays now available to watch with waveforms and BSL on the BBC’s website.

Photo: BBC/Flashing Lights.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.